A contractile gel that stores light energy

Living systems have the ability to produce collective molecular motions that have an effect at the macroscale, such as a muscle that contracts via the concerted action of protein motors. In order to reproduce this phenomenon, ...

Enhancing the electromechanical behavior of a flexible polymer

Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical stress into electricity, or vice versa, and can be useful in sensors, actuators and many other applications. But implementing piezoelectrics in polymers—materials composed of molecular ...

'Rhythm' of protein folding encoded in RNA, biologists find

(Phys.org)—Multiple RNA sequences can code for the same amino acid, but differences in their respective "optimality" slow or accelerate protein translation. Stanford biologists find optimal and non-optimal codons are consistently ...

Immune protein C4BP potentially suitable as transporter for drugs

The protein C4BP is similar to a spider in its spatial form with eight "arms". The structure of the "spider body" has recently been described in detail by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) ...

Interlocking rings unlock new material properties

Researchers working with Jonathan Barnes, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, have recently shown how molecules with interlocking ring architectures can be functionalized and incorporated into three-dimensional ...

Light-controlled gearbox for nanomachines

Rewarded with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016, nanomachines provide mechanical work on the smallest of scales. Yet at such small dimensions, molecular motors can complete this work in only one direction. Researchers from ...

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